CHERUB: A new generation
by ChieMatsuo
Summary: Joel Sheridan is the newest edition to CHERUB campus, he is young and is about to start basic training, Meet the new cast Joel,Kelly, Dijon, Victoria, Aaron and Thomas  as well as Ryan Sharma from the spin off  on a completely new action packed series
1. Chapter 1

CHERUB: A new generation by Chie Matsuo

Chapter one 

Ryan Sharma and his friends Max and alfie were sitting opposite zara asker's desk with a look of annoyance on all of their faces, beside them was a little red shirt kid that was holding a cold patch over his eyes. Zara was drumming her finger on the desk in front of her, the tapping got louder and louder until she finally snapped.

"WHAT! WHAT WERE YOU GUYS THINKING?" screamed zara making the cherubs jump in fright

"He stole my paintball, I tried to get it back from him and it accidentally went off!" explained max looking pale

"That gun was not a safety shooting gun that we normally use for paintballing or training, it was set on automatic and you're lucky Robert here was not fatally injured" snapped zara

"Seriously zara he was looking for trouble" whispered max under his breathe.

"What was that max?" asked zara coldly

"Nothing, nothing" cried max

"Since you have the cheek to answer me back I'm sending you on recycling duty and ditch digging duty for 2 months!" snapped zara, max placed a mortified hand over his face. Zara then turned to alfie.

"Alfie you will have recycling and recruitment missions for 3 months" zara said "And last but not least ryan another recruitment mission".

"Hey wait a second! How come I'm stuck with ditch digging and these guys get recruitment missions" cried max

"Because you created this gun, now you are dismissed max and I don't want to hear another peep from you until you've carried out your punishment" hissed zara. Max looked at zara in disbelief and anger for a moment but zara met his challenging look with her cold hard one, max in the end got grudgingly to his feet and left the office slamming the door so hard all the occupants inside were fearful that the ceiling would collapse.

"DO YOU WANT LAPS ALONG WITH THAT MAX?" roared zara but there was no answer. Zara sighed and looked at the two boys in front of her. She reached down and procured something from one of the drawers in front of her. There were two manila envelopes.

"Take these to the mission preparation building and don't you even think about taking any detours, your holding confidential documents" zara said.

Ryan took the one on the right while alfie took the one on the left. They stood up and left the office obediently and made their way to the mission preparation building. The doors allowed them access after the scanning machine had scanned the retinas of their eyes and they stood in a messy office with desks set in a curvy shape around the building that went around. There was a big screen behind the desks and cabinet full of manila envelopes. Alfie and ryan got separate seats and sat down and read their mission briefings. They could not discuss what they had been given because it was top secret information.

Ryan groaned, he was going to a run down area of London to a children's home. He cursed his luck.

"I'll see you in a few weeks then mate" ryan said when they exited the mission preparation building moments later.

"I guess so" alfie said looking pale as a ghost.

He had been assigned to go to a children's home called Nebraska, little did he know that a previous famous cherub had been founded at this same home. Ryan met Jennifer mitchum who now worked as a councillor as well as a cherub representative who kept an eye out for potential recruits.

"You've arrived here just in time, a young potential recruit arrived here just last night, he goes by the name of Joel Cohen, 13 years old, he has the required intellect for cherub potentials, not too below or above average, he has great reflexes and so far as i know is very healthy" said Jennifer as if explaining a good flavour of food.

"What is his family background details, where is he from?, has he got any known parents left that could start searching for him?" asked ryan professionally.

"No apparently his mother disowned her family and never spoke to them again, Joel barely knows his grandparents, uncles or aunts and it looks like they are not aware they have a grandson or nephew" explained jennifer.

"Okay apparently I am to have the name of Ryan Thompson, my parents died in a car crash, got it, when do I meet him?" asked ryan enthusiastically.

"You will stay in a hotel and I'll move you in to his room tomorrow" said Jennifer.

Ryan pretended to have arrived at Nebraska house when Joel was busy at school. He immediately bolted the door, unpacked his clothes and quickly took out a lock gun. Lock guns were used by cherubs to open any kind of lock so ryan went straight to Joel's wardrobe (which had a bolt on it) and juggled the lock gun around to unlock it.

Inside the wardrobe it was surprisingly nicely organised, Joel had a skateboard on the bottom of the wardrobe, his clothes were all hung up (his bags with valuables were at the front whilst jackets were at the back) ryan opened his rucksack which had the name "paramore" on the front, ryan did not find much because Joel had wisely taken out his mobile phone, his purse but ryan was about to lock the door when he saw a shoe box at the back of the wardrobe. Ryan had been trained to never leave anything behind so he grabbed the box and looked inside it, there was a photo of a small boy (about 5) with curly straw blonde hair in the lap of a similar looking woman with high cheekbones and a rather thin long face, there were passports with the star of David as a emblem on it, ryan immediately knew that Joel was Jewish. There were also sheets of music and headphones.

Ryan had searched the entire day collecting information on Joel and by 3 o clock he had already locked the door and was listening to his iPod when Joel came through the door. Ryan was quite shocked, Joel was quite skinny for a potential cherub, he was wearing a black hoodie with the hood faming his face, his crystal blue eyes however narrowed when he saw ryan in his bedroom.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Joel surprised.

"I'm ryan Thompson, I've just arrived here at Nebraska" said ryan standing up to shake Joel's hand. Joel did not shake ryan's hand but stood staring at him.

"I thought the house parents said I could have this room to myself, but oh well" Joel said and he began to got out his key to unlock its wardrobe. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" asked Joel loudly.

"Joel, it's me Rachel" said a voice, Joel groaned, the door opened and a furious looking house parent came in, she had purple hair and a lot of earrings decorating her ears.

"Hi there miss" began Joel

"I'm not having anymore of this Joel, you weren't at school today, why not?" snapped the house parent

"I saw those psychos from upstairs going so I decided to ditch it, I didn't fancy another of having my head dunked down the toilet" said Joel looking down at his feet. Ryan immediately felt sorry for him but Rachel did not back down.

"Joel all you have to do is avoid them, you either see a councillor and avoid those guys otherwise you will be expelled from school" said Rachel

"Okay I promise I will miss, I need to do some homework so do you mind?" said Joel grumpily. Rachel nodded and was about to leave the room when she saw ryan.

"You must be ryan thompson, hello my name is Rachel, I'll talk to you after dinner about school tomorrow okay" said Rachel shaking ryan's hand.

"Okay sure" ryan said then Rachel left the room.

Joel immediately grabbed his skateboard.

"Man you must love hearing her nagging" said ryan

"Skateboarding helps to settle my head, I'll be back at dinner, if she asks you where I am, say I left a few things at school" Joel explained and he pocketed his mobile, purse and his I pod, grabbed some big black headphones, tossed it around his neck, gave ryan a peace sign and left the room.

Ryan knew he should have gone along with Joel skateboarding but ryan was in a little bit of a rut, Joel and ryan were from completely different cliques, ryan's idea of fun was paintballing, playing football and working out whilst Joel was into rock music, reading comic books and skateboarding but in able to become closer and become Joel's friend ryan had to sacrifice his own interests and happiness and become a completely different person. But at that moment in time he had to go and meet Rachel in her office. Cherubs were expected to act completely like normal kids, that included attending school, school was another way he could get closer to Joel, Joel complained about being bullied ryan could offer him protection and it would get him a chance to become friends with Joel.

"Come in ryan" said Rachel who was smoking behind her desk, she continued smoking until a loud cough drew her attention back to ryan.

"You okay kid?" asked Rachel a little confused

"Your not supposed to be smoking" Ryan observed

"Well like I say to every kid that has ever scolded me over the issue, they can't sack me because they hardly have any staff, you want one?" said Rachel

"No I don't like the smell sorry" ryan answered but made his way over and sat down on the chair opposite Rachel's desk.

"So ryan you okay? Are you okay with the accommodation?" asked Rachel

"It's fine, it's cool" ryan said pretending to act his character's part well, pretending to be happy but grieving for pretend parents.

"So how do you feel about your parents? Are you holding up well" asked Rachel

"I'm okay right!" snapped ryan putting on a theatre performance of annoyance, he looked away trying not to let her see the tears (that weren't) in his eyes.

"I know it is hard, what has happened, but your not alone, all these kids here have lost their parents, many have been betrayed and abandoned, if you need to talk do not be afraid" said Rachel soothingly and came around to hug ryan, ryan hugged her swiftly back.

"I have set up details of your new school, you will be attending west road boy's school, here is some money for you to buy some uniform, there is a second hand uniform shop not too far from here, get Joel to show you the shop okay" explained Rachel.

"I will. Bye" said ryan and grabbed the money.

When Joel got back in at dinner he did not have dinner straight away but went upstairs, ryan reckoned it had something to do with a group of thug looking teens who had been asking around for Joel during dinnertime, ryan rushed his dinner and went upstairs to check on him.

"Are you alright? Dinner is pretty cool, do you want to come down for some?" asked Ryan, Joel was spread on his bed looking at the ceiling.

"No sorry, I'm not hungry" Joel said

"Is it because of those guys that were asking for you at lunch?" asked ryan

"Are they eating?" asked Joel looking panicky "They go out during the evenings, maybe I can go back to the skate park then come back when their not here"

"I'll tell you what, I have to buy some uniform at the uniform shop, do you want to come with? It was knock off a few hours" suggested ryan

"Brilliant idea ryan, let's go" said Joel, he leapt up, grabbed a hoodie, pulled on some skinny trousers and they both stealthily left the children's home and went down to the city centre. They had to catch one bus that took only 15 minutes; they came to a small shopping centre. There were a few unpopular shops, an old school food court, a bakery and stalls selling vegetables and the like.

"This way" Joel said and ryan followed joel to a shop that said "Second-hand school uniforms" joel went in and showed ryan the section that had all the clothes for west road school.

"Be careful though, west road isn't mixed, stick to this shelf, don't go over otherwise it can cost you" explained Joel.

"Thanks" Ryan said relieved.

Ryan brought a red jumper with a dark red and white tie, some black trousers that fitted him okish, black school shoes and socks. They left the shop and Joel looked anxiously at his watch.

"They're still not out" whispered Joel

"Listen let's grab a burger or something" said ryan

"Okay, I need a change from the crap they serve us at Nebraska" said Joel after thinking about it for a while.

Ryan managed to get Joel to open up after that, even though Joel dressed differently and was a little bit of a tall weed he was actually okay, he had a sharp mind and a hilarious sarcastic wit at times that made ryan laugh. Ryan told him he had a black belt in karate and it went down well with joel who said that he was actually comfortable with going back to school after hearing that.

"Can you do Jackie chan moves? Or Jet li?" asked Joel. Ryan was taken aback that Joel had even heard of those names.

"What? I like martial arts films, the first thing I did when I reached England was to grab as many dvds as I could, my mum wouldn't let me watch any when I was little you see" Joel said

"I'm not as good as Jackie chan or jet li but I'm not too far away from them, with one touch to the neck I can kill you though" said ryan

"Wicked" gushed Joel.

They returned back to the children's home that night.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ryan had spent a few weeks with Joel at Nebraska, in that time he had become quite close to the kid, Joel could go to school without any hassle from bullies because ryan had soccer punched one of them and frightened the others so much that they daren't touch Joel after that. Ryan also knew Joel, like most kids in Nebraska, had Jennifer as a councillor. Many kids did not need counselling but ryan knew that Joel was a little bit of a loner and just needed someone to talk to so he did go at least once a week. Ryan had also been instructed to drug him when he was attending one of these meetings. Ryan felt guilty, he really liked Joel and he didn't want to be in the position where the blonde haired teen suspected him of betraying him. Joel was quite distrustful of getting close to people because he had always been bullied from a young age.

"Can't I admit who I am and we can blind fold him, he'll need a friend like me at cherub anyhow, I'm the only person he can trust at the moment" ryan pleaded with Zara

"Okay I give you permission, this once, to reveal your identity" zara said and ryan shot a relieved punch in the air in celebration.

"Thanks zara I owe you one"

Joel laughed so loud though when ryan told him who he was.

"Dude I know I called you Jackie chan, one time, but it was a compliment, I mean it, you don't – you don't have to let it get to your head!" laughed Joel but he stopped laughing when he saw that ryan was not laughing.

"Hold on, are you being serious?" asked Joel

"Yes 100% and I can prove that I am being serious, there's a big campus far away from here, with firing ranges, swimming pools, army base stuff that trains kids like me to stop criminals everyday" explained ryan

"Cool when can I see this place?" asked Joel still not thinking that ryan was being serious.

"You've been selected for a series of recruitment tests tomorrow the van will arrive at 9 o clock" said ryan

"So they picked me to be an agent?" asked Joel disbelieving

"You seem very bored being here Joel, you even said that school is boring you, you could be trained to go undercover, to different parts of the world to fight terrorism" said ryan

Joel looked ryan directly in the eye and whispered "Your really being serious, are you really some secret agent?".

Ryan went to his wardrobe and brought out his equipment, his lock gun, gun and body armour.

"No way, no kid has those things in their wardrobes, sign me up ryan, I want to go, I want to join cherub!" cried Joel leaping to his feet and grabbing the equipment.

The next day the van came and Joel was told to sit in the back of the van.  
>"Why?" asked Joel<p>

"For security reasons, cherub does not exist, that's because nobody knows where the location of campus is, every new recruit has to be transported this way" explained ryan

"Okay, I'm trusting you mate" Joel said and excitedly leapt into the van

"Zara has arranged a short test for joel" the driver said.

"A test? What kind of test?" asked ryan alarmed

"A hostage attempt, you and Joel are to be tied up, you and Joel escape and while your trying to save me, you give Joel the phone number for cherub and call for help" explained the driver

"I see, I hope he doesn't panic" whispered ryan.

(A few hours later)

They drove for two hours, stopping off at service stations until they got to a long stretch of road. Suddenly the driver beside ryan said

"Here they come, remember you must act surprised"

The car bypassed them and stopped in front of them making the driver floor the brake urgently.

"What the hell!" the driver cried making Joel tap on the partition window that separated the back from the front. The driver of the car opened the door fast and three robust looking thugs with balaclavas got out, they walked purposefully towards the car and before the driver could move they had opened the door and dragged him roughly out.

"Joel!" cried ryan as he was grabbed from the car, ryan kneed the man holding him hard in the stomach but the stranger's belly felt like steel and instead of winding him, the stranger remained standing and simply gave ryan a punch and knee in the stomach back in return which doubled him over. Ryan knew straight away that these guys were senior agents. The man holding him picked him up and told his mate to open the back of the van, Joel panicked when he saw the guys in balaclavas but he didn't have time to do anything before Ryan and the original driver were shoved into the back of the van.

"If I hear one sound, I'll mash all of you up!" roared the leader of the group and one of his colleagues jumped inside the van and started to tie them up, when he had finished he nodded to his friends and they shut the door of the van with him in it. Joel gulped when he heard the horrifying click of a gun being loaded.

"Well fellows, looks like it's just me and you" said the stranger and giggled evilly. The van pulled away fast and drove 15 minutes before it stopped in the middle of nowhere, the van opened and the stranger with the gun strapped his gun to his clothes, grabbed Joel and Ryan and shoved them out of the van, his colleague caught the boys while the driver was man handled by his fellow comrade.

"Put them over there to sit down!" ordered the leader and his colleague obediently shoved the three captors onto the ground, Joel tried not to sob but he was close to and ryan prayed he wouldn't be something stupid to infuriated the people in front of him.

"Now you stand guard over him while I try and get some information out the driver" snarled the leader and he dragged the driver behind the van. They heard the terrifying sound of the driver being beaten up, his screams and his interrogator kicking him painfully in the gut. Joel began shaking madly beside ryan.

"Don't worry mate, stay calm" whispered ryan when their guardian turned around because of the noises.

"Don't worry what if they kill us?" hissed Joel "Are they trying to get some information about cherub?"

"It seems so, but I'm going to get you out of here okay, can you reach into the back pocket of my jeans?" asked ryan

Joel leaned back and tried to wiggle his fingers into the back pocket of ryan's jeans, ryan leaned slightly sideways to help him out, they had to be careful and slow, they only continued their struggle when their inexperienced capturer's back was turned. Finally Joel expertly got hold of something; it was a small pen knife.

"Dude you keep a pen knife in your pocket?" hissed Joel

"Yep standard cherub equipment, all agents carry it on them when their on missions" explained ryan quietly

"Remind me never to get in your bad books" said Joel smiling slightly

"As soon as I cut myself free, I'll knock this guy out and go and rescue the driver, you can call cherub" said ryan

"But how?" asked Joel

Ryan gave Joel the operator number for cherub campus.

"You will get put through to a car company, but this is really the cherub agent hotline, all you have to do is tell them that ryan sharma and his driver have been held hostage and they'll send someone straight away" ryan explained

"But how will they know where we are?" asked Joel

"They'll know" ryan said quickly

"OI STOP TALKING!" snapped their captor and hit ryan in the stomach with a gun, winding him

"Christ" moaned ryan but he had miraculously freed himself, without warning Joel, he leapt him and caught their kidnapper square in the chin making his spine snap up sharply, he then punched him hard in the side of the head knocking him out, the stranger hardly made a sound as he felt to the ground.

"Joel, call the number, I need to get the driver!" hissed ryan and stealthily made his way to the van, Joel followed ryan but hid behind the van and dialled the number on ryan's mobile

"Hello this is Joel Cohen, Ryan Sharma and the driver of the cherub van need help immediately, we've been held hostage" said Joel as soon as he got through

"Someone will be right with you Joel" said a young feminine voice.

Joel hung up just as he heard ryan attacking their kidnapper knocking him against the van. Joel ducked when he heard gun shots and tears filled his eyes, he seriously thought that ryan had been shot but there was silence and then ryan came running around the van.

"Did you call them?" asked ryan

"Yes their on their way" said Joel.

They waited an hour, the sun was setting but it was still quite light when a van was seen in the horizon.

"Ryan here they are!" cried Joel looking at the van, he shielded his eyes, he then realized ryan had not budged.

"Ryan?" asked Joel but suddenly his world turned black. He had been knocked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Joel woke up in a strange white room, it looked like a doctor's room, it was sparkling clean and he was in a single bed with a rough white sheet over him, he suddenly felt cold, and he found out that he was naked.

Joel immediately leapt up but feeling embarrassed, wrapped the white sheets around his private parts, he looked outside, it was pitch black but he could make out some children running around from one building to the next, they were wearing different coloured shirts but the same bottle green trousers and black boots. Joel's memories then came storming back, he looked behind him, on the bed was a set of clean clothes, Joel stepped over and gasped in relief, on the orange t-shirt that had been left out was the words CHERUB with the emblem of a little cherubim on a miniature globe which depicted planet earth. Beside the t-shirt was the same bottle green trousers and boots that the other children were wearing.

He quickly got dressed in case someone came in and stepped out into a corridor where a few agents were walking around.

"Excuse me do you know where ryan sharma is?" asked Joel

"I'm sorry mate, can't talk to orange" said the boy he asked and he continued on his way, there was a textbook in his hands, he was probably, Joel thought, off to class, Joel tried to ask other people but they would not talk to him. After thinking about it for a while, Joel decided to look for a lift that would take him to a reception place.

"Which floor is reception?" he asked a grown up in the lift. Again this grown up could not talk to him either but he pointed to the ground floor.

"Thanks dude" Joel replied and he pressed the button for the ground floor. The lift opened up into the reception area and he stepped out. It was a posh reception with a fountain in the middle, flower pots to the side, plush black sofas and a lady who sat behind a mahogany desk.

"Excuse me, can you please tell me where ryan sharma is" said Joel

"Hello Joel, congratulations for making it this far, the chairwoman would like to see you in her office, follow me" said the lady and she began walking to the side of the reception desk, around the corner to a office at the end of the corridor, Joel followed and his eyes went bright with relief when he saw ryan in the office with a black haired woman sitting behind the desk. Joel went over and hugged ryan.

"Ryan you were right, this place is awesome man!" gushed Joel

"I hope you can forgive me for knocking you out like that, I couldn't let you see where we were going" informed ryan

"Hello Joel" said the woman behind the desk bringing Joel back to earth. Joel didn't know what to say or how to behave instead he held out his hand

"Joel Cohen miss" he said introducing himself

"I know who you are, welcome to cherub campus" the lady replied "I'm Zara asker, chairwoman of this campus and you have been chosen to become an agent, ryan you may leave us now"

"I'll see after your tests" said ryan and obediently left the office closing the door behind him

"Have a seat Joel" said zara smiling brightly at him and indicating a chair near a cosy fireplace. Joel and Zara sat down and she asked

"So Joel, what is your first impression of campus?"

"I think its fantastic, greats fields, brilliant looking accommodation although I would prefer a room that looked like a room not a nurses' office" replied Joel

"That's the guest room, you will be moved into a proper room tonight" explained zara "That is, if you pass some tests".

"What sort of tests?" asked Joel

"The first test you've passed already" said zara shocking Joel

"What test was that? I don't remember going for a test" asked Joel

"The hostage attempt, those kidnappers were sent by us, we couldn't tell you about it because we wanted to see how well you coped with stress" explained zara

"I was pretty scared but I knew I had to get myself together" Joel said

"It's normal I guess for anyone experiencing it, the next test will be a written test and then one more, then you will have a medical and we'll decide if you fit the criteria for being an agent" explained zara

"When is my first test?" asked Joel

"Tomorrow, make sure you wear your orange t-shirt at all times, don't take it off at all" said zara

"But can't I have a black? It looks manlier you see" asked Joel

"The colour of your t-shirt matches your rank and cherub status, orange is for guests, black is for expert and experienced cherubs that have done 10 or more missions to the best standard, blue is for trainees, grey is for qualified agents that have passed basic training and navy is awarded to an agent that has done a great job on one particular mission" zara said "So you have no choice, you have to wear the orange t-shirt"

Joel tried not to complain.

Ryan was waiting outside the office and he leapt up when he saw Joel come out of zara's office

"Are you starting your tests today?" asked ryan

"Nope, I start tomorrow" replied Joel

"I knew you would, it's too late for any tests now, so do you want any dinner?" asked ryan

"Sure, what's on the menu?" asked Joel

Joel was amazed at the feast in front of his eyes, there were all sorts of food in the canteen, chinese, indian, Italian and carvary style meals

"Anything you want that is not out you can ask the cook for" added ryan after he had finished explaining the layout of the food to Joel (who had not been listening). Joel paused for a while and then starting stacking his plate with chips and burger.

"Oi careful! Your having a medical tomorrow" laughed ryan

"RYBO!" yelled a voice, a girl's voice, grace his secret admirer/worst enemy/annoying acquaintance, came bouncing over to him and gave him a tight hug. She broke the hug and looked at Joel who just smiled. Grace's eyes never left Joel's face immediately after that.

"Hi" she said

"Yo" Joel replied

Grace turned to ryan and asked "Are we supposed to talk to him?"

"As long as you don't mention a mouthful about campus or cherub things around him, use your common sense" hissed ryan impatiently.

"Where have I heard that line before?" asked another voice, Fu Ning an ex new recruit appeared behind grace and started dishing her own food. Joel saw ryan surrounded by mates and decided to sit somewhere else but ryan called him back.

"Sit at our table"

"You sure?" asked Joel

"YES! Joel sit next to us" cried Grace jumping in front of ryan, ryan was surprised that Joel had transferred grace's annoying girlish feelings away from him so fast, but it was quite a relief.

They ate dinner and talked about general things that teenage boys and girls talk about, hobbies, interests, favourite music, and favourite football teams. Soon they were joined by Max and Alfie another of ryan's mates. Joel was not used to being in a crowd of people the same age of him; usually, people they took one look at him, with big headphones, hoodie and skinny jeans and left him alone. But he reckoned the cherub uniform made him look cooler.

After dinner ryan took Joel up to the room set up for him in the main building, the corridor was nice and clean and his bedroom when he saw it, was absolutely spectacular, everything was new, he had a balcony, his own en suite bathroom, a TV and dvd player, a new laptop with internet access and a king sized bed.

The bathroom was fitted out with clean towels, flannels, shampoos and different kinds of bath gels. The TV had free view, the bed was comfortable and the view from his balcony was awesome. After the day he had had, Joel decided to have a shower and crash out in front of the telly watching the music channels.

The next day he got up, showered and went to meet zara in her office. The office looked exactly the same except that there was a metal cage on the desk. Zara took the towel off the cage and there was a rabbit inside it.

"This is your first test, kill the chicken" instructed zara

"Huh, why?" asked Joel

"Cherubs need to be able and willing to take life in dangerous situations, now do it or you fail" said zara. Joel looked at the innocent rabbit, its nose was twitching and he was looking at Joel through black beady eyes.

"What do I have to do?" asked Joel "I just want to get it over and done with"

Zara gave him a pen and instructed him on which vein to target to immediately kill the rabbit. Joel placed the pen by the vein and then quickly stabbed the rabbit, the rabbit immediately released its bowels all over the place, luckily Joel ducked just in time and the blood, guts and crap flew over his head and landed on the ground. Zara hadn't been hit either as she had backed away quickly.

"Good reflexes" zara complimented Joel

"Okay, next" Joel said weakly

Zara took Joel over to the dojo, a training hall for martial arts, a Japanese company had built this dojo after a cherub had successfully brought a drug syndicate to justice that were selling fake pharmaceuticals. Inside there was polish oak floorboards with springy blue mats and cherubs twisting themselves and others into dangerous looking positions and sparring with each other under the watchful eye of a Japanese training instructor that spoke broken English. They stepped into a smaller room and Joel saw a robust kind of chubby looking boy with blonde hair practising martial arts moves, when he turned to face Joel, Joel saw that it was the boy named alfie, one of ryan's friends.

"I've asked Alfie to spar with you today, he will try to go easy on you, but I must tell you he knows a fair bit of karate" said zara "The rules are that you can do anything to make your opponent submit, except kicking the genitals or eye gouging and three successful submits win you the match"

"Begin!" commanded zara,

Alfie and Joel faced off.

"You don't belong here" Alfie hissed

"What?" whispered Joel taken aback

"I'm going to hurt you so bad I'll have you begging like a girl" snarled Alfie

"Well bring it on mate" hissed Joel back and they stood apart from each other.

The match had begun.

Joel could not believe Alfie had said that to him, his hot head got the better of him and he lunged at alfie, alfie side stepped and tripped him with his foot, Joel quickly got up and kicked alfie hard in the leg, but it hardly affected him, alfie then moved quickly and before Joel could stop him he had punched him in the nose, hard, nearly breaking it and kneed him in the stomach. Joel went down on the ground hard holding his stomach. But he ignored the pain and saw that alfie was about to jump up and knee him in the belly, he dodged and kicked alfie in the head. Alfie touched his head but he was able to block Joel's fist to his face and put him in a painful arm lock. Joel was on the ground with Alfie behind him.

"Submit or I'll break your arm"

"Never"

Alfie put one foot on Joel's back, Joel yelled in pain, but he saw the opening he needed, he swept alfie's leg, alfie felt to the ground and did the splits, the sudden attack had left alfie wobbly so Joel used that moment to head butt alfie with the back of his head, he heard the crunch that signalled that the move had broken alfie's nose. Joel got up and swung his leg with all his might across alfie's face knocking him onto the ground immediately, alfie crumbled in pain with his hand on his face. Joel was happy to have passed but he felt guilty for hurting ryan's friend.

"Well done, you win" zara said proudly clapping her hands.

The last test was a written exam. Joel whisked through all the questions but the nagging feeling that he had seriously wounded Alfie worried him all throughout the exams.

"You have completed all the tests, I'll tell you the results in a few days' time, now you have to go and see Dr Kessler for a medical" said zara.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dr Kessler was a Jewish doctor, so joel and he had one thing in common there; the doctor had not lost the accent from his homeland and spoke in a typical Jewish accent

"I have a long, busy day in front of me" explained Kessler and he indicated for Joel to follow him through to a mini gym, next door to a small doctor's room. Inside, there were rows of treadmills with oxygen masks and heart monitors attached to it.

"This is what you have to do, I'll have you running for a long time, you are to stop whenever you feel faintish at any time, then I'll take you around to the next room for injections and a muscle biopsy" explained Kessler, Joel stepped onto the treadmill and it began moving. Dr Kessler did not come back for a long time, in that time Joel's treadmill got faster and faster, Joel began sweating profusely after 30 minutes on the treadmill, his breathing became rasps and his heart felt like it was tearing a hole through his chest. Finally he had to get off because he felt wobbly and his vision began to blur. As he was trying to get his breath back the machine that was linked to the treadmill began producing a long sheet of paper, Kessler finally showed himself then and looked at the sheet of paper that had just been gushing from the machine.

"A little below average in stamina, but it can be improved" Kessler commented and then said "Come on, next door then".

"What are those for?" asked Joel as Kessler placed a rolling tray in front of him that had a set of needles on it.

"Cherub sends agents around the world, to Africa, to Asia, to southern America and so on, you need to be vaccinated against influenza, Lassa fever, yellow fever, meningitis and so on" explained Kessler

"So how many needles am I having in total?" asked Joel

"About sixteen" replied Kessler

"All at once!" cried Joel

"No of course not, you'll be sick" said Kessler in annoyance "You'll have seven and then the rest tomorrow, you'll also need booster jabs now and again"

"It's a great life isn't it?" asked Joel sarcastically.

Joel returned to his bedroom that nights feeling sore all over, the tests were not too strenuous but the injections had left his arms feeling numb, and his behind felt the same as well. Just as he was about to go and have a warm bath the phone near his bed began to ring loudly. Joel moved so fast that he forgot about his injuries, it was the call he had been waiting for all day.

"Hello!" yelped Joel

"Hello joel, its zara, I'm calling to give you the results of your tests" said zara

"And?" asked Joel as he closed his eyes and crossed his fingers

"Congratulations welcome to cherub, you passed all your exams with flying colours!" cried zara

"YEAHHHHH!" yelled Joel "Thank you zara, thank you so much!"

"It's a pleasure, now be good and don't party too hard, basic training starts in two weeks, you need all the rest you can get" said zara and hung up.

Joel kicked the air in victory and ran to the bathroom to take a nice hot bath in a bath that he now owned.

The next day joel had to visit his handler. His arms were loosing its numbness and he could move them a bit more easily.

"Hello Joel" said Meryl when she opened her office door "Come in"

"How is campus life treating you?" Meryl asked when they had both sat down.

"It's great, I've met a few people and they have made me feel very welcome" Joel replied

"That is good to hear, I won't keep you very long Joel, I just need to complete your paperwork, I need a few things from you straight away, first of you, I need you to give me your new name" explained Meryl

"A new name? What's wrong with my name?" asked Joel confused

"You can keep your first name, but you have to change your last name, it's for security reasons, think of it as a fun new way of creating a different life for yourself" said Meryl smiling at Joel.

Joel began to think about a name when Meryl interrupted his thoughts with a question.

"May I suggest something?"

"What is it?" asked Joel

"You may keep your first name, but how about changing your last name, be creative you can take the name of a famous footballer or musician" said Meryl.

"That makes sense and can my surname be Sheridan, I heard my mum mention, that my grandmother's maiden name was Sheridan before she married my grandfather, she was the only person that helped mum out before she died" replied Joel.

"Sure Joel Sheridan it is then" Meryl announced

Joel liked the sound of his new name.

"So joel, basic training starts in two weeks time, in that time I want you to use the gym on campus to get some muscle, you may need it in basic training" said meryl "Your timetable will be delivered tomorrow"

"It was nice to meet you miss" Joel said and shook meryl's hand

"You too, just don't let me see you in here too much" replied meryl.

Joel met ryan, chloe, grace and the rest of the gang for lunch, he was now wearing the blue trainee blue t-shirt with the number 2 on the shoulder of it on, there was a roar of jeering when he finally sat down to eat.

"Joel is going to start basic training, Joel is going to start basic training!" teased alfie. Alfie had told Joel that he had been pretending to be unpleasant during the sparring test and joel had immediately forgiven him.

"Someone please help me" replied Joel.

"So what's your second name then?" asked grace leaning forward and placing her elbow on the table and her head on her chin staring at the blonde haired angelic faced youth in front of her. The lust in her eyes was evident.

"It is Sheridan" said joel with pride

"It sounds like the name of a jazz singer" scoffed alfie

"And alfie is a name given to pets" laughed joel.

"Don't mess with me joel, I'm heading towards a black belt remember" warned alfie but not too seriously.

"Joel do you want to watch something at the cinema tonight?" asked grace interrupting alfie "A few girls and their boy mates are coming"

"Sure what are going to see?" asked joel

"Twilight" said grace flirtatiously

"Err sure, ryan do you want to come?" asked joel turning to ask ryan but he saw that the seat beside him had become vacant; everyone had left the table leaving joel and grace alone at it.

"Those guys" hissed joel to himself.

Joel had no choice but to get dressed in his skinny jeans and best Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt and went to meet grace outside campus where a queue of cherubs were getting ready to take the campus van to the local city centre.

"Can't we take the bus?" asked joel

"No buses are allowed this far" replied grace

"Because cherub campus is a secret place duh" said Chloe nastily, joel looked at her more closely, she actually, he thought, looked like a china doll when she wore make up, he preferred her without it, they boarded the mini van and when all the cherubs were belted inside the van began to move.

They arrived 15 minutes later in a small city centre. The cinema could be seen in the distance and grace immediately grabbed onto joel's arm and began dragging him quickly in the direction of the venue.

"Grace slow down with your boyfriend!" cried chloe.

The film was a bit mushy for joel's taste but being a nice person at heart he tried to enjoy it for grace's sake. She pretended to cry halfway through the film and sobbed into his t-shirt.

"Why are you crying? Their kissing" asked joel

"I'm crying tears of joy" grace gasped

Joel looked over to see what chloe was up to and saw her locking lips with her date. Grace only stared longingly at joel who only smiled back nervously.

He was definitely going to get ryan back for this.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Joel sat at the edge of his bed, in nothing but boxer shorts and a vest, and looked at the timetable set out in front of him, he felt like he was back at school except that he was made to exercise more than study. He had been put in with young red shirts for Arabic language lessons, running laps and muscle building at the gym and last of all he had to eat more fat to hopefully put some fat on his bones as he was too skinny. A small scrawled note that was probably meryl's handwriting, said at the side of the timetable "And eat more" and beside that "But not too much!" and joel could only slump his head in slight depression.

Joel knew of course a bit of Hebrew but not Arabic as his mother had sent him to Hebrew school when he was little, he dreaded having to learn another language from scratch again, but he might as well get on with it. But the running and the muscle building was like agony, everyday he was made to wake up early, run a lot of laps until he thought he was going to have a heart attack, the gym pushed him to breaking limit and once the bench press fell straight onto his chest because he had been too exhausted to lift it up anymore, in the end his instructor decided to start him off on dumbbells, adding an extra weight when he started to become used to the weight of it. Then he moved back to the bench press and started with the weight lifting again.

By the end of the first week joel was starting to notice the difference in his body, since he had changed his diet to more unhealthier foods and had been working on strengthening his abs, his chest became broader and harder, his biceps felt as hard as steel and there was a bit more meat on his bones. He wasn't skinny and he didn't look too weedy anymore, joel could not help but pose in front of the mirror everyday, but of course he ended up having alfie and ryan walk in on him and it was quite hard to get them to believe what they had just seen was a figment of their imagination.

He woke up to sunlight a week later and saw that dirty cherub kit had been left on his bed instead of clean uniform, the boots, socks, underwear everything was badly torn and stank so putridly that the whole room stank of it's odour. Joel got up quickly, someone had warned him to set the alarm on his mobile phone instead of on his bedside table and luckily he had, the alarm clock on his bedside table was set at the wrong time hoping to wake him up late. Joel got up, washed and looked for other socks and underwear that he could wear, the only thing he wore was his blue trainee shirt, but he found another set of trousers and boots in his wardrobe.

He got the lift and saw some teachers in it heading towards the canteen, joel still had time and decided to get a quick breakfast, he didn't know when it would be his last meal. He ordered a full English breakfast and sat down, ate and read a newspaper, he saw other blue shirted trainees arriving in the canteen a while later.

"Are you starting basic training today?" asked a young mixed race boy with short black hair and a small button nose. He looked about 10 or 6.

"Yeah, how old are you?" asked joel as the kid sat down next to him.

"I'm 11, my name is Aaron, Aaron Cole" said the kid.

"I'm joel Sheridan" replied joel

Aaron shook joel's hand enthusiastically; joel was taken aback at the strength of the little boy's handshake but smiled pleasantly back at him.

"How come you're starting basic training when you're so young?" asked joel

"I'm fluent in spanish, I am a black belt in karate and my IQ is above average so that means I'm the top in my class, the instructors feel like I am more than ready to start it" explained Aaron "You don't look familiar at all, did you just recently arrive here?"

"I arrived two weeks ago" said joel

"You're in for a tough 100 days then" Aaron said unsympathetically.

They finished their breakfast and made their way to the training compound, Joel found Aaron to be funny and easy going but he found him a bit boisterous, he kept giving joel a low down of his skills and abilities and wouldn't stop talking.

"You should have cut your hair short by the way, you will be rolling in mud and running in the rain" Aaron added as they crossed the fields heading over to a rectangular square building that was the training compound.

They opened the door to a prefab steel building, inside, it was stone cold, and there were rows of single beds with uncomfortable looking sheets over them, in front of the bed stood a line of cherubs standing to attention in front of a mean looking robust Russian guy that looked like he was in the mafia.

"Don't just stand there gaping like fish, stand to attention, number 2 you're here and number 7 over there!" roared the Russian guy

"Yes sir" said joel

"That's yes Mr Kazakov!" snapped the instructor

"Yes Mr Kazakov" replied joel and made his way to his bed

"Okay kiddies welcome to basic training, the most miserable 100 days of your life, this is the time when you will be expected to grow up, to become men or women, I am not your friend, I am your enemy, I am not your father, so don't expect me to baby you, every morning you WILL be up early at 05:45. You will have a cold shower. If I hear any complaints you'll get a blast with a hose instead, you will get dressed, run the assault course and finish at 0700 for breakfast, this will then be followed by physical training until school starts at 0900. Lessons, which include language, espionage, weaponry and survival skills will then commence. At 1400 you will run the assault course again. Lunch will be at 1500. At 1600 you will have two more hours of physical training. At 1800 you return here for a wash and homework and also to prepare for next day's training. Any questions kids?" explained kazakov

"Sir Do you get the weekends off?" asked a boy innocently.

Aaron tried not to laugh.

"No you don't get weekends! Do you think the army gets the weekends off to sit down and watch telly and then go back to the battlefield on Monday? Of course not, there won't any holidays and no weekends because our enemies don't take breaks, they don't rest until they get what they want!" snapped kazakov.

"Robbers take breaks" whispered the boy that had asked kazakov the question, under his breath but he didn't say it low enough because joel and unluckily kazakov heard what he had just said.

"ARE YOU CONTRADICTING MY AUTHORITY!" screamed kazakov as he squared up to the young boy and shouted right in his face, spit splattering the boy's face, the boy nervously stepped back in fear.

"No sir, I'm sorry sir" the boy babbled.

"I think you want some laps, start running around the fields, don't stop until I tell you to" kazakov cried and the boy immediately set off to do his laps, one of kazakov's assistants followed the boy out to make sure he did as he was told

"NOBODY, NOBODY PISSES AROUND WITH ME, DO YOU HEAR ME WEAKLINGS!" roared kazakov "I am the boss you hear that? My word is law around here, LAW, until you get those grey shirts on your backs you have no right to tell me this and that, now time to get started, outside to the assault course RUN RUN!" the trainees were taken aback at the change in procedure, they expected to be able to relax that first day but kazakov wasn't having it, Joel followed the other trainees out and began to run the assault course, kazakov bypassed the trainees and headed the queue, whilst running backwards he screamed out orders. Assistants in white cherub t-shirts were running at the side of the group screaming insults and orders into the trainee that lacked behind just a little bit.

"I want you basically clipping the back of the boots of the person in front of you! If there are any gaps, you all do the assault course again, now get moving slowpokes!" cried kazakov

They were made to run the assault course 30 times that first day, kazakov wanted all of them to complete it together, and on time, if a trainee fell to the ground, if he didn't get up the hand ropes fast enough kazakov would stop all of them and make them do it again. It didn't matter if they ran in the dark, in the rain or the snow, joel knew he was letting the way more experienced ones like aaron down, but he felt angry that kazakov expected them all to be as great as cherubs who had spent their entire lives here.

"Its okay joel, I've been doing the assault course since I was 6" Aaron said "Kazakov may be tough but he'll get us all in shape"

They also had mini lessons of karate practise, espionage, survival skills and language lessons, that was the only time they were split into groups, joel was teamed up luckily with aaron but aaron still didn't go easy on him, he humiliated joel a few times until after about 4 weeks joel was able to block one of his attacks. But it would take him a while to even touch the young boy. Joel received a lot of teasing from the other trainees whenever they had karate lessons but joel always got them back whenever he had Arabic lessons. He and another boy called Sayed was the only people in Arabic lessons butsayed, having been born in the Middle East, was the only trainee to learn it faster than the others, he usually helped joel and together they became good friends. They usually messed around in these lessons and just talked. Their language teacher was so impressed with them that Joel and sayed were always awarded with a warm shower in the evenings.

As the weeks and months passed the whole group was able to keep up with the tough regime, they got used to the cold mornings and the cold showers, the punishments and the harsh physical training, their team morale improved too and their teamwork, they instinctively tried to cover up each other's weaknesses and encourage one another, one day aaron tripped on the assault course and kazakov insulted him so much that one particular remark shook his confidence but joel did his best to bring up it swiftly back up again.

"Think about the room you'll be getting in the main building, it has a big bed, computer, tv everything!" said joel

Joel and sayed also tried to help the trainees to memorise and improve on their language skills, every night after homework they would take the role as teachers and ask the group to recite the alphabet and basic language of the languages their studying, this helped a lot and they were all awarded with warm showers in the end.

Joel now knew the names and faces of his group well and knew about their strengths and weaknesses. Aaron Cole was 11, he was a prodigy at karate and he was slightly above average in IQ his weakness was learning spanish, Sayed Ali (13) excelled at retaining information his weakness was karate, Victoria Parks (13) was the vixen of the group, all the young male trainees had eyes for her, and they knew that in time she would grow to be a beauty and a probably a heartbreaker, she excelled in karate and using guns, her weakness was remembering things, Dijon Evra (11) was quite a weird kid that loved blowing things up, his weakness was languages, Thomas bale (12) had a fear of heights and was very sensitive which got him into trouble with kazakov a few times, but he was a good swimmer, Kelly Kidman was (13) and was very good at strategizing and gathering information, her weakness was karate, Claire Aniston (12) was very smart and was again a good long distance shooter but lacked physical strength.

Joel, Aaron, sayed, Victoria, Kelly, Claire, Dijon and Thomas were eventually sent to an unknown island where they were to complete the final task before they received their grey t-shirts. First of all they were to travel to Malaysia to stay in a hotel for the first night. The hotel was four stars and they all had to share rooms, Joel was to share with aaron, victoria and Kelly got a room, Dijon and Thomas were together and claire who was the lucky one, got a room all to herself. She didn't stop teasing her teammates about it though.

"Claire shut your mouth!" snapped aaron, after a while of hearing claire jumping up and down in excitement about her accommodation arrangements, unluckily for aaron, claire had had months and weeks to improve her karate techniques and she jabbed aaron painfully in the ribs.

"Ouchhh!" moaned aaron

"Now kids, curfew is at 10 because we have an early start tomorrow, I want you all to behave yourselves, any funny business and you spend the night on a bench instead of a hotel room you hear me!" snapped kazakov

"Alright… you Old Russian" cried Aaron waving kazakov out of the room.

"I'm Ukrainian!" roared kazakov opening the door suddenly to correct aaron.

"I always love calling him Russian instead of Ukrainian, he sulks for days about it" laughed aaron

"Yeah you fool, keep doing that and we'll all get punishment laps!" snarled claire

"Who wants room service!" cried Dijon suddenly; he had two menus in his hands.

"We can order room service and watch a film" suggested joel

"Good idea, let's watch how to loose a guy in 10 days!" screamed Claire

"I ain't watching a girl's film!" snapped Aaron

"Let's have a vote, I'll check the cabinet" Joel said and opened the cabinet door underneath the tv.

They ordered room service of indian, chinese and pizza and sat down to watch a dvd, but they got bored halfway in and had a pillow fight, victoria put ice cubes down Thomas' shorts, they all laughed while they watched the younger boy running around wildly trying to extract the ice cubes in his shorts.

They all returned to their rooms though at 10 o clock, because they daren't risk a night sleeping on the beach. Joel and aaron got themselves dressed into their pyjamas and lay in the darkness exchanging memoirs about training and wondering what the next day would bring.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A helicopter came to pick up all the cherubs up, the next day, for their rainforest survival test; they would use a rope and descend into the forest quickly instead of usually parachuting down.

"Now before you get going, there are a couple of rules, I will assign different leaders when you come to different checkpoints in your journey, the leaders are responsible for ALL members of their team, if a teammate gets injured, you all fail, if an individual gets injured, you all fail, beware of dangerous insects, snakes and other creepy crawlies in the forest, if someone gets bitten, there is a SOS transmitter clipped onto your shorts, press the button straightaway and help will come for you" Kazakov explained to them.

"I thought you said, that there are no dangerous animals in the forest!" gasped victoria

"I guess I lied" kazakov said simply, victoria's mouth fell open in shock.

The helicopter reached the correct position over the rainforest and a long rope was flung outside the door.

"GET GOING BABIES! GO GO! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!" snapped kazakov changing his persona as quick as lightening and immediately the cherubs including joel began to slide down the rope quickly. They landed on the beach first of all and then they all headed towards a rainforest; they immediately heard the sounds of birds and the buzzing of insects loudly all around them. One thing was for sure they were no longer near civilisation.

"Okay guys I'm leader number one!" said Claire loudly

"God help us" whispered Aaron under his breathe.

"First of all, we all need to read our mission briefings, so everyone get them out" said Claire. They all obediently took out their briefings, immediately all of them except sayed, Claire and joel groaned in annoyance.

"The briefings aren't in freaking English!" snapped Thomas giving Claire, sayed and joel an explanation for their mumblings.

"Okay people, me, sayed and joel are all adept at our chosen languages so I predicted we'll get half the mission briefings 100% correct, we'll try and decipher the rest because I used to study French when I was little" said Claire.

"Did you study German?" asked Thomas

"No" replied Claire

"Well let's put all of them together and see where we get" suggested Joel, they all agreed and sat carefully down on logs or crouched down to look at the briefings.

"We have a valley to go through before we can go to checkpoint A and checkpoint B is across a small river, I don't get checkpoint C's location" said sayed.

"Up two hills I think it says and then we come to checkpoint C" Victoria cried adding a line from where sayed had finished his, onto the map.

"Okay we have three checkpoints to get to in two days, we need to start walking to at least get to checkpoint one tonight" Claire said

"But it looks far, we'll never get there by nightfall" Aaron said

"We will light sticks to make torches, we will rest when we are halfway, if we can't go any further" Claire said "Now since we are doing a lot of walking, we need to dispose of equipment we obviously don't need, so we have to travel light".

"We obviously need our sleeping bags, something to wipe our arses with, one set of food apparatus, food utensils, we need enough food rations for all of us, one of the older guys can carry the water harpoon, everyone carry their own water canteens" explained Claire very quickly

"Jesus slow down with the list" cried Dijon in his heavy French accent "Were not octopuses"

When they had disposed of irreverent things ("Why on earth do we need a golf ball?" asked Thomas to a bewildered looking dijon) they began their long trek towards the first checkpoint. Halfway through the day, the clouds began to gather indicating that a forest rain storm was approaching, joel, victoria and sayed (the tallest members of the group) rushed out and collected the water for their canteens, they also, to stop mosquitos from attacking them changed their clothes, washed themselves down with the rainwater and put on insect repellent.

They continued travelling through the night lighting fire sticks so that they could see and decided to settle in the valley that they had seen on the map and set up camp.

"This valley looks scary" Claire remarked looking worried

"Don't worry we're all together if anything happens" Kelly said soothingly to her.

They ate the evening meal of sausage and beans in a can and went to their tents to sleep. Joel had a tent with sayed that night. Joel took a while to go off to sleep, all around him he could tell he was in the middle of nowhere, the birds never stopped singing and the insects buzzed around his head, against the mosquito net that they had set up around their beds. But fatigue eventually took over and he was able to go to sleep.

A scream woke him up immediately at what seemed to be a few minutes later. He sat bolt upright and saw what looked like shooting stars descending on the campsite. He shook sayed violently awake and they quickly unzipped their tent entrance. There were arrows with flames at their end flying down at them from the cliff edge above them, the girls were dressed and running straight through the valley with torches ablaze trying to find cover, joel immediately rummaged in his hand bag and recovered his night vision goggles.

"HERE! EXTINGUISH THE FIRES, USE THESE!" cried joel tossing them at his teammates, the girls put out their torches and put on the goggles. It took a while for their vision to adjust; joel immediately looked up at the precipice above him and saw a half naked figure duck quickly away from the edge out of view.

"Give me a gun" whispered joel to sayed, sayed started passing around guns silently to joel, Thomas, Claire, Kelly, victoria and Dijon.

"Everyone I saw someone up there, it was a male, half naked, he has disappeared now but I swear I saw him" whispered joel

"What do you mean half naked?" hissed victoria

"I think it's a native" gasped Aaron

"No way, I thought they were extinct" whispered Thomas, everyone turned and looked at him.

"They obviously think we're intruders, carry your guns but don't fire unless necessary" said Claire quietly

"I think it's necessary right now, since their shooting things at us, which in case you didn't notice could have burnt us to death" hissed Aaron

"We'll just continue travelling, no resting tonight, whoever that person is has probably run to get more help" Claire said

So they continued walking even though their legs were heavy with fatigue all throughout the night. They passed through the valley into a forest and up a steep pathway to higher ground. They luckily reached checkpoint A by early morning

The next day they reached their first checkpoint, it was a campsite where kazakov's assistant Dana smith was hanging out with Mr Pike.

"Where's pike?" asked Claire

"His not here, you guys can rest here if you want to, but I suggest you don't stop because you only have 2 more days to get to the final checkpoint" explained Dana

"This sucks man, I'm basically walking around like a zombie here!" cried Thomas

"I'm just here to assign the new team leader, Claire, you have done well to get the team this far" Dana explained

"Yeah I'm lucky, especially when you consider there's a tribe of rainforest people in here" Claire said

"There will always be indigenous people in places like this" dana said

"But what if they kill us?" asked Thomas

"Just make sure they don't" dana said and looked at her watch "So the new team leader is going to be joel Sheridan, whose joel?"

"I'm joel" joel replied stepping forward

"Good luck, now get moving" Dana said

Joel looked at the team he had been assigned to start the next part of the mission with, he prayed that whatever lay ahead wasn't too difficult.

They started off through a rainforest wilderness; there were cliff edges at times and steep winding paths down to ground level. They climbed mountains and halfway towards checkpoint b, their feet were aching and the younger agents (Thomas and Claire) were complaining of tiredness.

As they were walking to a safe place to set up camp to have a rest, Thomas screamed out in pain.

"OW! You stood on my bloody foot Dylan!"

"My name is Dijon!" snapped Dijon turning around to square up furiously to Thomas, Thomas shoved him backwards.

"Get out of my face, your name sucks anyway!"

"ENOUGH! Thomas, Dijon, quit fighting, Thomas, stay in front where I can see you" Joel ordered, Thomas gave Joel a contemptuous look and marched furiously to the front of the group.

"You're not my mum!" snarled Thomas

"One more word and I'll kick you in your kidneys you little runt" joel shouted back.

They arrived at checkpoint b just as it was going very dark. The only person at the camp to meet them was Mr large, the old training instructor.

"Man I never thought I'll live to see the day" whispered Thomas gleefully nudging Dijon in the ribs knowingly, Dijon smiled back

"Why what's up with him?" asked joel

"Mr large used to be an old evil git, nearly killed this one kid during basic training" whispered Thomas

"Can you please hurry up; you have a checkpoint to get to in one day!" Large snapped. The trainees rested on the ground and had a drink while large said "I'm to assigned the last captain, Dijon evra, you are to guide your team to the final checkpoint so don't screw up!"

"Ay ay Captain, I mean assistant captain" said Dijon saluting large mockingly

"Cut the attitude before I put a boot up your arse!" snarled Large

"Careful you might be downgraded to mission controller" whispered Dijon under his breathe.

They rested for the whole of the night. In the morning they saw on their map that there was a river down the hill from their camp.

"Take the river around to the other side, be careful there are rapids to the final checkpoint" Large explained quickly

"What about the forest people?" asked Claire "What if they attack us?"

"Well deal with it, we are not your parents" Large snapped at her.

Dijon led them to the river that had boats afloat on the river, tied to a tree; Dijon checked each boat carefully, all over for bombs, he found one underneath the boat and disabled it, then he untied the rope and ordered everyone to get inside. Sayed, Thomas and Aaron were in one and Dijon, Kelly and Victoria were in another.

They began rowing down the river slowly, they took in the high trees and the forests that they passed, the water was quite mellow and it looked like it would be a harmless ride until a barrage of arrows starting to fly from the trees to their right.

"Duck!" cried Dijon, but it didn't make much difference, a few of the girls nearly got stabbed with the needles (it wasn't arrows) and they screamed out in alarm.

"DIJON! These could be poisonous!" cried Victoria.

"Okay then we have no choice, victoria, Claire aim for them and shoot them when you see them!" Dijon cried, Victoria and Claire took their guns from the holsters on their cherub uniform and aimed the gun upwards and started shooting whilst Dijon aimed what looked like a grenade into the forest where the shooting was coming from.

"Dijon what are you doing? They are innocent bystanders!" cried Joel

"Shut it joel, its them or us, and they WILL get dangerous sooner or later" said Dijon, the grenade went off a second later, joel was expecting a loud explosive bang but instead there was a thrilling sound and a bright light. It was just a blinding explosive. Joel smiled at Dijon.

"People always assume that, just because I'm mad about exploding things that I'm a bad guy" Dijon said and laughing he sat back down in his boat and began rowing faster "Sayed take the rowers and get those girls to safety!" .

The forest people did not fire at them again and they were able to make it to land quickly. But as they were laughing and hugging each other (because they were only half a day away from the final checkpoint) they heard the clicking of sticks and the breaking of a lot of twigs. Dijon went pale and all of them turned around and saw half naked men with facial painting over their face, some had spiky black hair or long hair, tied in a ponytail, they were holding pointy sticks at their chests. They outnumbered all of the cherubs completely. Before Dijon could reach for the SOS transmitter on his trousers, a forest man had him in an arm lock and on the ground in front of him, the rest of the group quickly grabbed them, Aaron was able to jump back and press the button before he was held from behind and stripped of all his weapons. They took all their guns, grenades, water canteens and back packs leaving them in nothing but their cherub uniform.

"Gothunk!" shouted what appeared to be the leader of the tribesmen to his comrade; he had a gun in his hand and seemed to want to use it on them. But the leader shook his head, said something else and his comrade nodded. He signalled for his men to carry the cherubs with them.

"Oh shit" cried Thomas, he was shaking in the grip of the half naked man gripping him, and he had gone as pale as a ghost.

"Don't worry Thomas, help will come" whispered Joel but he got a punch in the face by the forest man who had him captive.

They were carried rather roughly through the forest, the forest men around them kept pushing them along in front of them, and if they tried to communicate with each other they would expect a slap or a punch or a kick by one of the men behind them. Joel was truly petrified, he knew that these forest men wanted to avenge the death of their fallen comrades, but would they torture them? Kill them perhaps, Joel was too young to die, he had wanted to become an agent so badly, though, that he had forgotten what it really meant. He was an agent and a spy; both jobs were very serious things to do if he was found out. Was he really prepared to become one then?

He had become quiet and very pale, someone poked him in the ribs, he looked sideways and he saw Aaron, he was not looking scared at all but looked quite chuffed.

"Don't worry mate, I called for help, I stepped back as soon as I saw them and called kazakov" Aaron explained. Joel was relieved, he could have hugged Aaron for his quick thinking but their hands were tied behind their backs.

They arrived at what appeared to be a camp for the tribes people, all the villagers were scarcely dressed, there were little kids wearing only leafy undergarments running around, women whose breasts were on full display were carrying water around and staring at the procession before them. It was not long before the whole village had their eyes on the strangers that had entered the camp. Thomas, Kelly, Claire, Victoria, sayed, Joel, Dijon and Thomas were made to kneel down in front of a large beer bellied chiefs men. They stayed that way until the men above them had finished their weird sounding conversation. They saw the chief's man point to a big statue of some god, underneath the statue was an altar that had fruits on it.

"Oh my God their going to kill us!" screamed Thomas, he had lost all control, he tried to run away but the tribesmen pulled him back and they began dragging them to the pillar and the statue, the girls tried to reassure each other but the guys hardly spoke except for Thomas who was praying and asking his mother in heaven to watch over him.

A while later they were knelt in front of the statue watching as Dijon was strapped to the pillar. Dijon tried to be brave; he didn't flinch at all when he was strapped to the post. 

"Its okay guys, it will be quick, these sacrificial ceremonies usually are" Dijon said

"Oh yeah, how the hell do you know that?" asked Aaron

"I saw it once on a film called 10 000 BC" said Dijon

"So it's just a spear through the chest right?" asked Thomas hopefully

"No… they chopped off their heads" gasped Dijon as his bindings were tightened. Thomas gulped so hard they all could hear it.

The whole village had started the ceremony; there were candles lit and people dancing frantically about singing songs that had guttural utterings and people wobbling their eyes. Finally the music came to an end and the chief of the village came towards Dijon saying some kind of speech.

"Hold on a minute" Dijon shouted "That is French!"

"How the hell does a tribesman know French?" wailed Thomas

"His saying, congratulations cherubs, you have passed basic training, THIS IS A SET UP!" cried Dijon his breathing and words coming out faster as he translated; he cried out in joy and began laughing. The rest of the group were brought to their feet and the tribes men that had them as hostages shook their hands. Joel could not believe his luck and he felt as if he was in a dream, he looked pass the man that was shaking his hand and saw Kazakov, large and dana walking towards them through the excited looking villagers.

"Congratulations kiddies, you have learnt the good and not so good parts of becoming an agent, I'm proud to present you with these" Kazakov said and pulled out of the plastic bag he was carrying some grey cherub t-shirts and started tossing them at all of them.

Joel felt a sense of pride pulling his grey t-shirt over his blue one after an agonising 100 days of basic training, he felt good.

On the coach that was heading towards the airport there was a celebratory atmosphere, it felt warm and joyful, they shared jokes about each other on their training and laughed when Thomas shame facedly tried to chat up dana.

"So what are you going to do when you reach campus Joel Sheridan?" asked Victoria, Joel was shocked to be even speaking to her, she was the most popular girl at cherub so far and she hadn't even spoken to him during basic training except when they were probably doing an exercise.

"Err chilling out in my bedroom, maybe going out with the guys" replied Joel

"Oh okay, me and Kelly were thinking of going to the cinema and then to the bowling alley in town, do you want to come? You can bring your mates with you" asked Victoria

"Okay… sure" said Joel taken aback, victoria smiled at him and sat back down where she was sitting with Kelly.

"Man I can't believe Victoria Park talked to you" whispered Aaron

"She talks to everyone doesn't she?" asked joel

"Only people she likes or would like to know" Aaron said

"Don't worry you'll find someone" Joel teased

"Asif you have a chance, she's dating half the male students on campus" scoffed Aaron.

They returned back to campus and joel was happy to see ryan sharma running to greet him with alfie and max.

"Yo joelie!" cried Alfie

"Alfie its Joel, just Joel" Joel corrected alfie

"I'm james, james bond" Alfie said doing a passable impersonation of james bond, suddenly his eyes lit up and he said "Look it's victoria park, joel was she on the same basic training course as you?"

"Yes and she asked me out with her tonight, want to come? She said I could bring mates" said joel

"Of course, ryan we have to go" Alfie pleaded

"That sounds cool" said Ryan

"I need a shower I'll be up in my bedroom if you guys need me" Joel said

"We'll be out on the football pitches, come and join us for a game!" max shouted after joel

"I'm going up for a shower, how many times do you want me to wash today?" asked joel turning back to his friends and smiling .


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

In the dining hall of CHERUB campus, there was a big LCD flat screen TV hanging on the wall, with live coverage of a football game in which a low ranking semi pro team had just qualified into the championship league.

"What the bloody hell" whispered alfie as Joel, Dijon, Chloe, max, Ryan and sayed sat down.

"What's up man?" asked Ryan as he began to tug into his chips and fried chicken.

"This lousy team called the Frankfort FC have just gone and knocked Birmingham city out of the league, I've never watched a game with them playing, but they are pretty good" explained alfie indicating the football match being played. There were young teenagers (about 21 or under) that had just scored a goal against Birmingham city, their kit was in green and white strips with white shorts.

"They get to play Birmingham already? That's a bit too soon isn't it" asked Joel

"Stupid fifa association, the whole lot of them are corrupt assholes!" cried Alfie

"Anyway come on guys, time to play a bit of footie ourselves" said Dijon grabbing the football that was underneath their table and sprinting from the cafeteria.

"Dijon is crazy, if he isn't careful he'll get indigestion, he never stops!" said max. But they quickly finished their food and followed Dijon to the football pitches.

(A while later)

Cherubs were very close knit, they dined together at Christmas, and they sat together in the cafeteria. There were always social events around campus, floor parties, and football and movie nights in the big cinema that had been newly built on campus. There were off course trips to the city outside of campus as well if they preferred to go shopping. The week after basic training was really refreshing. They were currently playing football (back to the present) on one of the nicely mowed football pitches behind the big accommodation blocks, it was a good game but joel's team lost, but that didn't matter to joel, he loved being apart of a group of mates that truly respected and cared about him. Max and alfie both misjudged a header and banged each other's heads; they fell on the ground and groaned in pain. But it was not too serious; they both ended up rolling on the ground laughing their heads off a few minutes later.

"I hope you haven't given me brain damage!" laughed max.

"Chairwoman!" shouted Ryan suddenly. Max and alfie stood up excited and max whispered "You don't think we have a mission do you?"

"Could be" Ryan said

They saw zara asker walking purposefully towards them. She stopped and smiled at all of them when she reached them.

"Good evening, how are all of you doing?" she asked

"We're fine, just playing some football" replied ryan

"I'm glad that you like football because I have a mission for you, Joel" said zara looking at joel

"Cool am I joining a football team?" asked joel

"Not exactly, please follow me" Zara said.

Joel followed zara towards the mission preparation building which was a massive, banana shaped building on the outskirts of the campus. They got a buggy cart to save time and when they entered the building they walked up some stairs until they got to a set of double doors with a scanner at the side of it. Joel stood in front of the scanner and the device scanned the retinas of his eyes, when it had recognised both of them, the door opened, and they stepped out into a small and cosy reception area with cream carpet, small doors, hid small meeting rooms that sectioned off the rest of the mission preparation building, except the reception area they were currently standing in. Over the years the mission preparation building had had a massive scrub down, there were no more papers, cups, plates and other rubbish littered around it, everything was under lock and key with password and voice detection devices installed for extra protection. The reception room had plush cream sofas in a circle around a glass table with plant pots on it, the sofas faced a huge glass window where you could look out and see campus.

Zara walked across the reception area and knocked on one of the meeting room doors. The door opened and Joel marvelled at the way the room looked larger inside from outside. Ewart asker was talking to a Chinese girl with beautiful black eyes, long skinny legs who was wearing a white cherub t-shirt, she looked about 18 or 20 and Joel knew straightaway that she was an ex cherub. Also, in ewart's office was a police officer, a chubby faced but well built man, in proper officer uniform who was sitting on one of the comfortable couches drinking some tea. When zara came into the room they fell silent and the police officer stood up and shook zara's hand.

"You must be the chairwoman in charge of this organisation" said the officer "My name is PC Mark fox, it's a pleasure to meet you"

"It's nice to meet you too, this is one of the cherub agents that we think will be suitable for this mission" Zara said indicating Joel.

"Nice to meet you son" Pc Mark fox replied and shook Joel's hand good naturedly.

"I can leave you all to it then" zara said and left the office.

"I better be going as well" Ewart whispered as he rumbled through some papers, finally finding them, he smiled at all of them and headed out of the office as well, closing the door shut behind them.

"Hold on, who is my mission controller then?" asked joel

"I am" The Chinese girl replied and shook joel's hands, she had a slight American accent which joel thought was quite attractive "Kerry chang, ex cherub agent, and now part time mission controller".

"I didn't know mission controllers can do part time work, cool" joel replied

"How old are you joel?" asked Kerry

"13, I'm 14 in May" Joel said enthusiastically

"Does joel's age disrupt the mission officer?" asked Kerry

"Not at all, the suspect's little brother is about the same age as Joel" Max said. Suddenly the door opened and in stepped Victoria Park. She looked very presentable and as gorgeous as ever, she had styled her hair so that a little of her hair was tied into a ponytail whilst the rest was left to hang loose, she was wearing make up and her blue, wolfish eyes sparkled in excitement as she took in the office and the people inside it.

"You must be Victoria Park" said Kerry

"Yes and your Kerry chang, how's America?" asked victoria

"It's very nice over there, but very busy" Kerry replied "But enough chit chat, we have to focus on the mission, let me get the briefings" and with that Kerry left the office for a while.

"Hi victoria" said joel

"Hi joel, I didn't see you there" Victoria said leaping in fright but she settled down and sat down next to joel on the couches.

Kerry came back moments later and handed out the mission briefings to Joel and Victoria.

"So it's just us on this mission?" asked victoria

"Yes this mission has been classified medium risk so it will be quite safe" said Kerry and she sat on one of the desks and went silent as Joel and victoria read their briefings.

**Mission Briefing for Joel Sheridan & Victoria Park**

****WARNING: DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE MISSION PREPARATION BUILDING, DO NOT DISCLOSE ANY INFORMATION WITH ANOTHER PERSON(s), FAILURE TO ABRIDE BY THESE RULES, WILL RESULT IN IMPRISONMENT AND EXPULSION FROM CHERUB CAMPUS****

**Frankfort football team: A history**

Frankfort FC is a semi pro football team that was created by Dominic Janson in Ireland. Having been relegated and dropped from starting in the irish football league (a competition held only in Ireland and Scotland) Janson decided to have a go in the English premier league but his team's strength was not strong enough to even be entered into that league either. So Janson decided to take a break and work as an assistant coach for an under 21s team instead, this 11 a side team was called was called the "poisonous snakes". Janson decided to rebuild Frankfort FC using some talented young stars in the poisonous snakes under 21s team. He trained them with the help of his colleagues and when the teenagers came of age at 18 they were entered into the irish league and then the English league games.

But there has been reports suggesting that the club has used corruptive measures to progress through each game, bribing football governments, using blackmail and drugs to get ahead. But Dominic Janson was not the source of the corruption it was the "candy givers".

**Darrell Martell, Carlos Levi and the candy givers **

Darrell Martell (born in 1992, exact month unknown) is a 19 year old footballer who plays for Frankfort FC, Darrell Martell was born in Kildare, a county in Ireland. Police suspect him of blackmail and of buying and possessing illegal drugs. But they were unable to procure enough evidence for a court case.

Carlos levi (Born in 1992) is a 19 yrs. old footballer that plays for Frankfort FC, carlos is from a working class family, his mother is a single parent (who has just been promoted in her job) and he aspires to be a famous footballer. He has been suspected of being a courier for a mysterious and unknown drug cartel, selling and delivering drugs around the area of Kildare. Darrell and Martell are close friends and police suspect Darrell of blackmail in order to bypass any drug taking tests.

The candy givers is the code name used by police officers to name the unknown drug cartel that are supplying teenagers and the wealthy with drugs in the suburban coastal area of Ireland. They have been newly formed.

**The CHERUB mission**

Carlos and Darrell are the most unlikely pair to be close friends, we believe that either or both are members of the "candy givers" this drug cartel have mysteriously acquired batches of illegal and sometimes dangerous drugs and the main leaders must be imprisoned and the business stopped.

Joel Sheridan and victoria park will use the aliases of Joel and Victoria London, new settlers in Beaumont, Joel and Victoria will, instead of investigating Carlos and Darrell (since both suspects are 19 years old and are unlikely to relate to either of the CHERUB agents stated) they will instead become friendly with the younger siblings of the two boys, Victoria Park will become friends with Darrell Martell's younger sister Kristle (aged 13) whilst Joel will investigate carlos levi's brother, Levrell Levi. Both agents will live in the same house with Kerry and Mark as parents.

Joel and Victoria will both try to attend school and get to know each of their targets without fail (join after school activities, attend school regularly etc.).

The mission is classed as medium risk (since there is an involvement of drugs the ethics committee will not classify this mission as low risk). Mission controllers must be present and cherubs need to be reminded that taking drugs is illegal and they will be expelled from CHERUB campus immediately if drugs are taken. There will be regular drug tests carried out to make sure that none of the agents involved are breaking the law.

**End of briefing **

Joel finished reading the briefing before victoria and they all waited for her to finish reading.

"So we're staying in boring England?" asked Victoria "Great and all my friends have gone abroad".

"Remember missions are not always cosy, speaking from experience you can be living in a lovely crib one moment and the next in some run down area of London, crimes are everywhere, in different areas and in different countries" explained Kerry

"What was your first mission kerry?" asked victoria innocuously

"That does not matter at the moment, the mission starts next week, I will send all of you a mission itinerary in the meantime, all your personal possessions will be transported to Kildare before we leave so make sure you make a list of things you want to take with you, and place it on top of your suitcase" said Kerry ignoring victoria's disappointed and slightly offended expression.

"I'll see you in a week's time then" Mark fox said as he shook victoria and joel's hand "Until then"

"Bye, it was nice to meet you" the cherubs replied.

"Feeling nervous?" asked Joel as he and victoria left the mission preparation building.

"Nah to be honest, most of my friends tell me missions aren't that scary once you get used to them" said victoria offhandedly, suddenly she looked beyond Joel into the distance "Oh there's Kelly, see you next week Joel!" and with that she was off running over to greet Kelly in the distance.

Joel decided to make his list for the mission, as he was trying to decide what DVDs he was going to take with him there came a knock on the door, it was Ryan.

"Hi there mate, you okay? Where are you going" he asked

"I've got my first mission" said joel excitedly

"Already, that's great, you need any help getting prepared?" asked ryan watching joel unpack.

"Nah I've got it" replied joel

"Okay well I'll be in the games room if you want to join the gang" said ryan and he closed the door as he left.

Joel was a bit worried and excited about this new mission, he really wanted it to be on an exotic land and a bit more exciting but he thought it could have been a lot worse.

Finally the day came and Joel, carrying a few possessions in his suitcase headed down to the underground car park where most of the cherub staff parked their vehicles, Pc Max Fox and Kerry were waiting by a posh car for him.

"Where's victoria?" asked joel

"That's what I would like to know" said Kerry as she dug into her bag and pulled out her mobile, as she was about to start dialling, however, they all heard the pat-patter of footsteps running towards them. It was victoria, looking surprisingly sleepy and who was carrying a suitcase in her hand.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I forgot what time we were meeting" cried victoria

"And it seems like you forgot that you were on a mission today too!" snapped Kerry "Why do you look like a zombie?"

"I-I went to a party last night, I didn't stay all night though" replied victoria

"Get in the car victoria, I'll talk to you when we get to the first resting point" snarled Kerry and opened the door to the car, looking petrified victoria hurriedly leapt into the car, joel followed swiftly after her.

The car pulled out of the parking lot, through the entrance of cherub, pass security and picked up the motorway, joel sent a quick text message to ryan, Dijon, sayed and Aaron to let them know that he was going on his first mission. He then looked back at CHERUB campus which looked surprisingly beautiful at that time of night, a few lights were on inside the buildings and he could see a few agents walking around getting ready for early morning training.

He would miss campus as he regarded the place as a new home, but it was time for a mission and he knew he had to make sure he did not screw up.

THE END


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Kerry gave victoria a lecture when they reached their first rest point while max and joel decided to get some breakfast from a McDonalds in the food court nearby. When they got back in the car and started on their journey again they were issued with family background sheets to memorize.

"Kerry you look like a lawyer to me" Joel said "Especially in that suit"

"Thank you" Kerry said "I was a bit worried about how the suit would look to the locals up there"

"Are they snobby people? That's the one thing I cannot stand" Victoria asked.

"There are the good and the bad, you just have to try your best to handle them assertively whenever they give you trouble" Kerry explained "Do not start any fights otherwise you'll be immediately expelled from missions when you get back to campus"

They travelled to Scotland which took them about 5 hours and stayed overnight in a hotel. They were to catch a ferry to go across into Ireland the next day. Kerry only had to show the customs officer her MI5 security pass and the man did not argue with her or ask any questions but allowed them on board as soon as he saw it.

"When I leave cherub I'm definitely going to get one of those" Victoria whispered to joel "I could travel around the world and pretend I'm on top secret missions"

"Err correction, you need clearance from MI5 or cherub to use it" Kerry whispered turning to smile at victoria. Victoria shrugged her shoulders at joel's smiling face.

"Doesn't hurt to try".

The ferry ride to Ireland was straight forward and peaceful. It took at least an hour and when joel spotted Ireland in the distance he called out to victoria to come and look. They got off the ferry and got into their car that was held in the ferry car park and travelled to their supposed house in the suburbs of Kildare. The houses were posh and Georgian looking with or without balconies. Some had massive gardens as well. Posh cars lined the side of the street and the lawns at the front of each house were neatly mowed.

"Talk about rich" whispered victoria.

They drove through Kildare shopping centre which looked a bit like Stratford-upon-Avon in England* but a bit smaller and had more narrowed streets.

At last they came to their house. The house was situated in a quiet suburban area surrounded by old and new Georgian houses that looked as if they had six or more bedrooms. Max got out the car to help Kerry with the bags and so did victoria and joel.

"So where are our targets living?" asked joel

"Levrell and kristle live inside their boarding schools, the two schools aren't too far apart, tomorrow you will be enrolled there" explained Kerry

"Great, now we have school on our minds 24/7" said joel

"I love the idea of boarding in, it's a great social experience" gushed victoria as she carried her suitcase into the house. The house was extremely lavish; there was a grand entrance hall with a living room and rooms leading off separately through some black doors. There was a staircase leading up to the bedrooms.

"Well it makes no sense unpacking tonight as your enrolling tomorrow" Max said "Joel your school is clongowes wood college, victoria you'll be going to Kildare College"

"Got you boss" Victoria replied enthusiastically.

They placed a suitcase in their imaginary bedrooms, joel was surprised to find out that gadgets, a tv, a skateboard had been placed in his bedroom to make it look as though joel had had this bedroom his entire life.

"We have to always do that at cherub" Kerry said when joel asked her about it that evening "We have to make sure that your cover story is 100% concrete to reduce suspicion, cherubs are supposed to act and look like ordinary kids after all"

"It's cool, I liked the paramore skating board" Joel replied

"You like paramore? Eww I hate rock music" victoria commented "I prefer Rihanna and the wanted"

Joel pretended to vomit but quickly cut it off when victoria looked at him.

The next day, Max dropped Joel off at Clongowes secondary school for boys, whilst Kerry dropped Victoria at her boarding school in Kildare College.

"Remember if you need to contact us, use the radio that is strapped to your shoes" Max explained "We will ask to meet you or victoria at least once a week to see how you're progressing, whatever happens don't break your contact with your chosen targets, we expect you to have made progress in a week and a half's time"

"You guys don't waste any time do you?" asked joel smiling nervously

"See you joel" said max and he left in his posh saleen car. Joel was dressed in school uniform which was a black blazer with a white shirt and a black and white striped school tie. He hated the school uniform, he had always hated school uniform but he must admit to himself that his uniform was quite fancy. There were already boys carrying their suitcases towards the massive white castle like building in front of him.

Joel entered the reception area which was as posh looking as the outside of the building. There was the loud conversations of the boys running up and down the stairs as they were all unpacking their suitcases and locating their living quarters. Joel went up to the receptionist and tapped on the glass window.

"Yes can I help you?" asked the receptionist

"I'm Joel London, I'm here to see a Mr Moloney" said joel

"Joel London, the new student?" asked the receptionist

"Yes" replied joel

"I'll call him to say that you are here waiting for him, just take a seat joel" said the receptionist smiling at joel warmly.

Joel sat down on one of the comfortable looking counches in reception, he waited quite a while, he kept straightening his tie hoping to make a good impression, and then he scolded himself because he knew that he wasn't a real student. Mr Moloney the headmaster of the school greeted him after what seemed like half an hour. Shook joel's hand and ushered him into his office.

Mr Moloney gave joel a quick lecture about the school policies, there was a curfew for boys at 10, he told joel about bullying, misbehaviour and the consequences if joel misbehaves etc and he recommended the list of after school activities that every boy was expected to take part in up until year 10, then the student could drop it if he wished. Joel immediately spotted the football club and immediately signed up for it.

"Excellent, it was nice to meet you, mass is on Sundays, all students are expected to attend" said Mr moloney. Joel shook his hand and headed to his room. Joel was 13 years old and was in his third year which means he had to share a room with another student in the house of Grammar. He opened the door into his bedroom, the room was divided, there were two beds with a chest of drawers to separate each occupier's personal space, on one side of the room joel saw that his roommate was into rock music too and surprisingly paramore. He had his wardrobe open with no clothes inside it, which told joel that lev had not arrived yet at school. Joel threw his heavy suitcase onto his bed and began unpacking.

The next thing he had to do was investigate the room to find out some information about lev, lev had posters of kim kardashian on his wardrobe door and also some photos of him and his brother carlos on his bedroom wall and on his dressing table, carlos and lev looked exactly alike, they had the same olive skin, nicely shaped eyebrows, the only difference was that lev had curly short hair with a curly fringe at the front whereas carlos had shaved his hair short.

Since he was not due to start lessons until tomorrow and everyone had the day off to settle into their new rooms and get settled, Joel decided to explore Clongowes College, it was a rowdy school for one that was supposed to be the poshest and most expensive college/secondary school in the whole of ireland, the school had beautiful gardens, massive football pitches with nicely mowed grasses and fields for rugby and horse riding. Joel saw boys fighting, getting picked on, laughing and he knew that he was back at school again. Clongowes reminded joel of CHERUB a bit except that the buildings were slightly old.

He returned back to his room a little while later, he had bought some snacks up from the canteen to munch on, the room he had, had two study desks, one for lev and one for joel. On these desks there was a posh laptop which reminded students that they were only to be used for studying, but the firewall had been removed because it was everyone's first day back, so joel was able to send an email to his friend Ryan and was able to watch some videos of paramore on youtube.

He had his earphones in so he didn't hear when lev came in, moments later with a suitcase. He looked around, saw joel in his room and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Are you the new kid?" asked lev

"Yeah, nice to meet you, I'm joel london" said joel taking off his earphones and pausing a paramore video.

"I'm Lev Levi, You like paramore, cool" lev said pointing to the laptop screen.

"I've been a fan all my life" replied joel.

"That's what I like to hear, I'm just going to unpack my things" lev said and went over to his bed and wardrobe and began chucking clothes into his wardrobe.

"When do we get our class timetable?" asked joel

"Tonight they'll slip them under the door" lev explained.

"That's great, I want to know when my first football lesson is" joel said pretending to be excited.

"You play football too? Your going to make me fall in love with you joel beware" said lev

"Don't you dare, I'm a black belt in karate" replied joel.

"A black belt? And your only 13? How is that possible" asked lev. Joel knew he had said something unusual as soon as the words left his mouth, he immediately went to the first lie cherub had ever taught him to say.

"My father is a karate instructor, he has been teaching me karate from a small age" said joel, lev nodded without looking at joel. Joel inwardly was relieved that he had not screwed up.

The next morning joel awoke and saw that lev was not in his bed, he was not in the en suite bathroom that was outside their room either, joel decided to get ready quickly and see where his young target had got to. When he stepped out of the bathroom he saw a small, white envelope on his study desk, it had his name on it, and it was a school timetable, with the times of his lessons and after school club details on it.

Joel got dressed into school uniform and went straight to his form room, they had given him a well detailed map of the school, it was simply enough to follow, joel was in the accommodation block of the school. To get to the study building, he had to exit through the most obvious exit and go across to the next big block. Higher numbered rooms were obviously the top floor, the middle numbers were in the middle, and low numbers were on the ground floor. He came to a old fashioned oak door where a line of boys were standing waiting for their house tutor, on the door the name "Grammar" was on the front.

"Hey look what we have here, a new kid!" said a kid with a whiny voice looking at Joel, he had just seen lev talking to a group of boys near the front of the line. He had decided to wait at the end which was a big mistake as he had caught the attention of a snotty boy with broad shoulders, curly blonde hair and a few of his mates.

"What's your name?" asked the boy.

"Joel London" replied joel.

"London? As in London the city? What a joke" snarled the boy "I've never heard of the londons before, what village are you living in? What do your parents do?"

"I'm living in Ballymore and my mother is a lawyer, dad is a famous rugby player that plays for the local team" explained joel

"What's his name?" asked the boy swiftly.

"Max London" replied joel, if the boy looked into the name he would find that the players of the rugby team of Kildare would know max London because max had just recently started playing for them.

"I love rugby, I'm in rugby team, I'm Mairtin, this is scottie and kevin" Mairton said and pointed offhandedly to his cronies behind him "Are you in some type of after school activity yet?"

"Just the football team" replied Joel; there was "oohs" from Mairtin's cronies and plenty of giggles.

"Football players are a bunch of pussies, i'll like to see if you beat us this year gay boy!" snarled Mairtin his expression and body language becoming hostile.

"Leave him alone Mairtin, his new" said lev squaring up to Mairtin.

"Enough fighting lads! It is a new term and there are new lessons to be learnt" shouted a posh voice from behind them, walking towards them was a clean shaven young male teacher carrying a box of books.

"Good morning Mr Connolly!" shouted Mairtin feigning innocence but he barged pass lev rather brutally when they all had to file into the classroom. Lev ignored it and said to joel.

"He is very competitive Mairtin is, but you'll get used to it, the rivalry between the football team and the rugby team that is" explained lev

"He looks gay himself" whispered joel, they both laughed to themselves remembering Mairtin's squeaky posh voice.

"Anyhow there is a team meeting tonight, new and old players are expected to attend after lessons, do not be late" Lev said sternly.

"Don't worry I won't" replied joel and they went into the classroom.

*Ok I've never been to Kildare but I had to think of a posh area in Ireland for this mission… shoot me :'(


End file.
